I happen just to have read, in the Chri Sci Monster (20 Sept., p. 28), an astonishing example of southern tact. A black college professor, visiting Oxford, MS, stepped into a bar for some food. A white native sitting at the bar "said to no one in particular, but within Hooker's earshot", "I remember when they didn't let niggers in here." He replied, "That was crazy, wasn't it? I remember that too." That led to a friendly 45-min conversation. Hooker commented afterward, "He was asking to have a conversation about race -- he just didn't quite know how.... The reason I could hear that as an invitation is because I constantly remind myself that hurt people hurt people -- they're exposing you to a place of their own pain."

Interesting article.